Action model of infall into the Virgo cluster

The observed infall of galaxies into the Virgo cluster puts strong constraints on the mass of the cluster. A non-parametric fully non-linear description of the infall can be made with orbit reconstructions based on Numerical Action Methods. The mass of the cluster is determined to be 1.2 × 10¹⁵ M_⊙. The mass-to-light ratio for the cluster is found to be seven times higher than the mean ratio found across the region within V=3000 km/s.